


A Whole Deck's Worth

by Squirrel_Stone



Series: A Deck Full of Aces [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: A physical reaction to touch does not equal attraction or consent, Acephobia, Asexual Darcy Lewis, Asexual Natasha Romanoff, Asexual Sam Wilson, Asexual Steve Rogers, Gen, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Internalized Acephobia, Steve is an asshole because he's scared, but he's still an asshole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 22:05:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7139312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrel_Stone/pseuds/Squirrel_Stone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam and Darcy are getting ready for Pride, and Steve acts a bit (a lot) abnormal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Whole Deck's Worth

**Author's Note:**

> Just note that this does mention past corrective rape, and it had a lasting impact on the character it happened to.

“You’ve gotta stay still, man. Stop fidgeting!”

Steve furrowed his eyebrows together as he rounded the corner, seeing Darcy smearing lines of paint on a squirming Sam’s face.

“You do know we aren’t leaving until two, right?” Sam asked.

“Stop talking,” Darcy ordered, using her thumbnail to get rid of an extra bit of paint that made it outside the image she seemed to be drawing. “I swear if you make me do this again, it’ll be your entire face.”

Sam groaned but kept his mouth closed and stayed still for Darcy while she finished up, neither aware of Steve watching them. He eyed the flag on Sam’s cheek: a black triangle and white, grey, and purple stripes. Steve’s squinted his eyes slightly, his lips pursed as he tried to remember if he’d ever seen that flag before. As far as he knew, pretty much all the pride flags except for gay pride involved pink.

Darcy pulled away from Sam, revealing an ace of diamonds, a bright smile on her face. “There!” she claimed. “All done. Now to attack Nat.” She turned away, only to see Steve standing in her way. “Hey there, soldier,” she greeted him. “You joining us at pride?”

“I’m wearing the shirt,” Steve confirmed, gesturing down to his ally shirt. He looked back up at Darcy, noting the flag on her cheek: purple, grey, white, grey, and purple again. One her other cheek was an ace of clubs. “What’s with those? I’ve never seen either of your flags before. Or the cards.”

“It’s for asexuality,” Sam explained, and Darcy looked at him then back to Steve and nodded.

“People who don’t feel sexual attraction,” Darcy elaborated. “Sam’s demi, which means he has to have a close relationship with a person before feeling sexual attraction, and I’m grey-ace, which means I’m kind of questioning and don’t have enough experience in relationships to figure out quite what I am, but I’m somewhere on the spectrum.”

Steve couldn’t stop himself. Before he could even think, he scoffed and rolled his eyes. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “Everyone feels sexual attraction. That’s the normal thing.”

Darcy actually winced. “Not necessarily,” she objected quietly. “Some people don’t feel sexual attraction; there’s nothing wrong with that. I thought you were an ally, Steve. How is being ace any different from being gay or bi?”

“It just _is_ ,” Steve insisted. “You’re making it up, plain and simple.”

Sam got up, slowly walking over to Darcy and putting a hand on her shoulder while glaring at Steve. “Dude… It’s real, and _you’re_ being a real dick. Why is this such a huge thing to you? Why does it upset you that some people just don’t want to have sex? You’re not that kind of person.”

“If you don’t hear it from me, you’re just gonna hear it from someone else who is bigger and stronger than you who decides to make you understand it.”

Darcy actually jumped back, staring at Steve in fear. “What? Is that a threat?” she asked. “What the fuck is wrong with you? I thought you said you didn’t like bullies.”

“It’s not a threat,” Steve declared, his voice holding extra bite in it. “It’s a warning because I don’t want either of you to go through what happened to me!”

Both Darcy and Sam went quiet, suddenly understanding Steve’s adamancy. After a long moment, Sam took in a deep breath. “I know there’s always gonna be some assholes who think asexuality isn’t real, and some of those assholes would rape me if they had the chance, but I don’t care,” he said. “I spent 30 years thinking I was broken, and I’m not going back. Asexuality is real, Steve, and having sex, especially by force, doesn’t change that. I’m sorry about what happened to you, but as long as you don’t feel sexual attraction, you’re ace.”

Steve swallowed hard, looking away from Sam and Darcy only to turn back with tears in his eyes. “If asexuality was real, I wouldn’t have… reacted the way I did when it happened,” he insisted.

“That’s not true, Steve,” Darcy replied. She reached out, placing one hand over his. “When you are touched like that, even when you don’t want to be, there is a physical reaction—it’s involuntary. That response isn’t the same as attraction.”

Steve slowly moved so he was holding Darcy’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “I messed up, didn’t I?” he asked, his voice hitching as he held back a sob. “I hurt you, just now. Both of you.”

Sam nodded. “Yeah,” he confirmed. “But you can make up for it later. It sounds like you’ve already been punishing yourself enough.”

Darcy forced a smile on her face. “So… you want to get a flag for today?” she asked, lifting the hand that wasn’t holding Steve’s with the paints in it. “I’ve got Nat down for a flag and an ace of spades. If you feel romantic attraction, you could be the ace of hearts… we’d have a full deck.”

Steve smiled and nodded his head. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Yeah, that sounds good.”


End file.
